SEA Program Opens Doors for Hamilton Student

"Emily Benson ’23 spent the fall semester with the Sea Education Association (SEA) program studying coral reef ecology. She sailed aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer through the Caribbean, beginning and ending in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Here’s what she had to say about the experience.

Describe your experience at sea. What did an average day look like?

On the Cramer, our tall ship, we were divided into three watch groups — A, B, and C — for four watch rotations — dawn watch, morning watch, afternoon watch, and evening watch. We’d rotate through each period, so we had six hours on deck and 12 hours after to relax. For example, if B Watch (my watch!) was on deck for dawn watch, we woke up at 0100 to steer the ship at the helm, be on lookout at the bow, do hourly boat checks, set/strike the sails as needed, or help out in the lab. Dawn watch was over at 0700, and we debriefed the next group on what we’d done before handing the reins over. Usually, we ate breakfast after and headed to bed."

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